Disputes/Chargebacks FAQ

Read our answers to the most common questions when it comes to disputes. If you need help after reading this, check out our answers to common questions.

How does the dispute process work?

Stripe receives a notification of the disputed charge. We automatically send you an email with details. Additionally, we send a charge.dispute.created event to any webhook URLs you have.

We will deduct the disputed amount and fee from your account the day after a dispute is received. If you win a dispute, we will deposit the amount back into your account the next day.

In some cases, a disputed amount is not deducted immediately, because the cardholder’s bank has not initiated movement of funds. These “pre-chargebacks” differ from immediate chargebacks, and can be refunded.

Stripe will send any evidence you submit to the credit card’s bank. That company will then make a decision about whether or not to resolve the dispute in your favor. The disputed amount is refunded to your bank account if the dispute is resolved in your favor.

If you choose to respond to the dispute, we will submit any information you can provide to your customer’s credit card company and keep you posted afterwards.

What does the dispute status mean? How can I tell when it changes?

When a dispute first comes in, its status is needs_response. When you update the dispute with evidence, we submit that evidence on your behalf, and the status changes to under_review. The dispute’s status will eventually change to won or lost depending on whether the dispute is resolved in your favor or the cardholder’s favor—usually within 60 days.

When the dispute is resolved, we’ll email you and also send a charge.dispute.closed event. In the meantime, you can always visit the disputed charge’s page in your dashboard for the dispute’s status or view all your disputes.

I want to just give the customer a refund instead. Can I do that?

Unfortunately, once a dispute has arrived, there’s no way for you to refund the charge. Your customer has already gotten the amount of the dispute back from their bank, so if you agree with the decision to refund, you don’t need to take any action and your customer will keep their funds.

However, as mentioned above, some disputes are not full chargebacks, and can be refunded. Look at the dispute in the Dashboard to see if you can refund it. If you successfully refund a charge before the dispute escalates into a full chargeback, the dispute will be closed with status charge_refunded.

My customer said the dispute was a mistake. How do I get the dispute reversed?

If you’ve talked to your customer and they’ve agreed to drop the dispute, there are a couple next steps. First, have your customer call their bank and let them know. This is critical, since the bank won’t know your customer has dropped it unless your customer tells them.

Secondly, even though the customer has already agreed to withdraw the dispute through their bank, you must still submit evidence for the dispute. Your evidence should indicate to the bank that your customer wishes to drop the dispute, and must include any email evidence you have where the customer may say that. If your customer had specific complaints that led to the dispute, be sure to address those in the evidence. Failing to provide evidence even though the customer agreed to drop the dispute could still result in you losing the dispute.

Once you’ve done those two things, we need to wait for the bank to let us know that the dispute has been closed in your favor. As soon as they do that, we will return the full amount of the charge and the associated $15.00 fee to you. Do note that this process can take quite a while—it’s not unusual for a bank to take up to 60 days to notify us of their decision. As soon as we know that the dispute is closed in your favor we will send you an email.

Is there a fee for disputes?

Yes, you incur a $15.00 fee when there is a dispute on one of your transactions. If the dispute is resolved in your favor, however, we refund the fee.

How can I prevent disputes?

Disputed charges are an unfortunate fact of doing business, but you can do a few broad things to reduce your risk:

Use a recognizable name for your card statement text. You can set this in your account settings. We recommend using your website’s domain name.

Have clear return and refund policies and make them easy to find on your website.

Avoid using the same Stripe account for separate businesses. Each Stripe account should represent a single business. Instead, create additional accounts for each business you operate so that the business information is accurately reflected

Communicate accurate delivery times and keep customers updated throughout the process. If possible, use online tracking and delivery confirmation